Politico: Romney Seeks Retraction from Washington Post on Bain

Officials of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign are meeting with editors of The Washington Post Wednesday to ask for formal retraction of a June 21 story in the paper that said Bain Capital invested in companies that outsourced American jobs, Politico reports.

Romney co-founded Bain, a private equity firm. His staff will talk to The Post’s executive editor Marcus Brauchli and other senior officials from the paper, according to Politico.

The Romney representatives will tell The Post that its claims about Bain and the companies are either incomplete or inaccurate, sources tell Politico. The Post’s staffers misinterpreted SEC filings it examined for the story and neglected to account for the firms’ foreign hiring, which boosted U.S. exports and U.S. businesses, the Romney staffers say.

They have put together advocacy positions for each company cited in the Post story: Chippac, Corporate Software, GT Bicycle, Modus Media, SMTC Corp., and Stream International.

"The Post's editors take all complaints seriously and are always willing to listen to concerns and look into them," Post spokesperson Kris Coratti told Politico in regards to the meeting.

Romney campaign officials declined to comment on the record.

The Post’s story said Bain was an early investor in firms that outsourced jobs heavily. "Bain played several roles in helping these outsourcing companies, such as investing venture capital so they could grow and providing management and strategic business advice as they navigated this rapidly developing field," the article stated.

President Barack Obama's campaign has released ads seeking to capitalize on The Post story. The ads say, “The Washington Post has just revealed that Romney’s companies were pioneers in shipping U.S. jobs overseas.”